Steam Profile

About Me

Saturday, January 5, 2013

A Touch of Realism about our Society Today

Inevitably, most arguments in favor of wedge-issues such as; Gay Marriage,
Gun Control, Abortion, or Governmental Regulation, are met with the same type
of opposition. It is an irrational, emotion driven, ideological viewpoint,
through which no amount of logic or reason can penetrate. Science doesn't
matter, People don't matter, and Facts do not matter for many of these types of
people. It is sad how we are unable to have a civil conversation on the
national stage over these issues, without it devolving into ideological
platitudes of freedom and morality, religion, or outright paranoia.

Such issues and many others of generations past, have always been a part of our
national discourse; However, it seems as though over the last 140 years, post-civil
war, we are once again entering into a period of political obstinacy, where one
ideological party refuses to find any amount of compromise acceptable and is
willing to tear the country apart, in the process. We saw this at the beginning
of our Nation, when we were picking up the pieces after the Revolution. We
witnessed rigid ideological divides and a period of political turmoil once
again with the civil war. A milder version of this same behavior emerged during
the civil rights movement, tempered perhaps due to the Vietnam conflict. Today
a resurgence exists which is threatening to once again bring our society toward
the brink of disaster.

Most people expect their elected representatives to advocate on their behalf
and to achieve results. In a diverse society, achieving results involves the
ability to compromise toward a common ground; However, when you have Ideologues
who are elected and refuse to compromise or work together with those whom they
disagree, Government is then broken. So whose fault is it when Government is
broken, and one political party refuses to cooperate or compromise with
another? It is our own fault. We elect those who serve in government, we bare
the full responsibility for their unwillingness to compromise, because we are
capable of voting them out of office, yet do not..

As a society, we are forced to coexist peacefully with one another, despite all
our differences. We may not like each other, we may not even like ourselves,
but the fact remains we have to coexist. The problem is, some people do not
want to coexist. They want everyone else to bow before their beliefs. They are
uncompromising about this fact, unwilling to peacefully coexist, and completely
willing to tear the country apart, if it means getting what they want. Many of
them believe they are living in the end of times, they are convinced of this so
deeply, all the logic and reason in the world, even the stark truth staring
them in the face would not waver their resolve. In fact it can be argued that
the more proof you show an ideologue against their beliefs, the more entrenched
their beliefs will become as a defense mechanism.

How do we then approach this dilemma? We could fight against it; However, as we
see with groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church, it only strengthens their
resolve when people fight against them. If reason and logic will not work,
perhaps an emotional appeal? Well, that wouldn't work either, because these
people are already emotionally compromised with their beliefs. We've seen what
educating these types of people has done, as they simply refuse to believe the
truth of things in front of their noses. How then do we solve this problem?

I think part of the reason this type of behavior has gotten out of hand, is
because we have turned a blind eye for too long, as people have used their
soapboxes to spout crazy, paranoid, ideologically driven propaganda. We haven't
done enough to call out this behavior, we have assumed most people would ignore
it because it was so fringe; However, what we are seeing is a culture of
undereducated, uninformed people who are closed off from the whole of our
diverse society, being led by snake oil salesmen. They are being convinced 24
hours a day, that the paranoid, crazy, ideologically driven propaganda is the
truth and everyone else is lying. Fox News is particularly visible in this
regard; Although, if you look deeper, you will find a whole profit-driven
industry particularly on talk radio, who make a living by spreading
conservative propaganda to their listeners, and encouraging their listeners to
tune out anything remotely resembling reality.

So the Question should really be, how do we cut the head off the snake of these
snake oil salesman? Advertising. We saw the effectiveness of sponsor targeting
during the Sandra Fluke incident with Rush Limbaugh and again during the Susan
G Komen controversy over Planned Parenthood funding. In fact, if you look
through piles of media stories going back decades, you will see the impact of
pressuring sponsors to stop affiliating themselves with certain viewpoints. The
next step should be an FCC regulation, preventing News Outlets from
broadcasting false or misleading news, requiring such outlets to designate
themselves as Opinion Outlets. There is room to maneuver on these solutions,
but the fact remains something has to change. People should be free to believe
what they wish, but that freedom should not cross over into the ability to
force others to live under that belief. The truth is, Gay marriage only affects
Gay couples, Abortion only affects the Woman and potentially her partner,
Governmental Regulations are supposed to protect a powerless population from
the overwhelming forces of business, and Gun Control is about reducing gun
violence by having a structured system in place to promote responsible gun
ownership, while limiting the ability of those who would cause harm from doing
so with a gun. If you are against these things, you are free to not marry someone
of the same sex, not have an abortion, enjoy the negative effects of pollution
to your heart's content, and free to own whatever firearms you want, though
with the freedom will also inevitably come the responsibility.

These issues will continue to rage, eventually society will move on to the next
slate of wedge issues, and Gay Marriage or Abortion will be looked at through
the prism of History, the way we view Slavery today. Educating people from an
early age will help limit the harm caused by undereducated, uninformed citizens
who blindly follow an ideological shepherds of all stripes. Ensuring people are
able to access the news, and not become drowned in lies and misleading
propaganda, will help the uninformed become active participants in the diverse
world in which they live. Standing up and speaking out against these soap box
snake oil salesman, every minute of every day, relentlessly shaming them into
the shadows, will drive the serpents from the temples and bring light back into
the world.